The present invention relates to an integrated circuit adapted for mobile communication and related mobile computing device.
Direct device-to-device (D2D) communication between smartphones has been available for years via WiFi's Ad-hoc mode, but as operating system modifications are required to set up D2D, D2D usage thus has not really taken off, until with recent adoption of the WiFi Direct standard. Video sharing, file sharing, as well as multiplayer games are starting to leverage WiFi Direct. Clearly, there are peer-to-peer applications that benefit from the faster response times of D2D communications; these applications gather user input and sensor data from nearby smartphones, perform computations in-situ, and provide results and user interface updates with higher responsiveness. However, existing D2D communication only works under short-range and low mobility scenarios. WiFi usage is challenging in long range or high-mobility scenarios. WiFi Direct facilitates easier setup of device-to-device networks, but one device needs to serve as an access point (i.e. the group owner) and all other devices then communicate through the access point, which means highly mobile networks with rapidly changing topologies are unsupported. This largely limits WiFi Direct applications to close-range, and static deployments between a few smartphones. LTE Direct is regarded as a promising new D2D technology, but as it leverages on LTE infrastructure, LTE Direct requires modifications to the LTE base stations which may hinder widespread adoption.
Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is a form of D2D communication, and has been burgeoning with the adoption of the IEEE 802.11p DSRC standard around the world. Numerous V2V applications in the transportation domain have been proposed or deployed, such as mobile multimedia, safety, road pricing, and others. These applications leverage the high mobility, long range and fast response times of 802.11p for next-generation transportation applications. The increased transmit power allowed in the 802.11p specifications enables longer range communications, but the high power consumption of 802.11p radios has conventionally precluded their integration into non-vehicular mobile devices.